How's this for a slogan: First in the Big East

Nov. 7, 2011

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Those sayings are vintage Butch Jones, who likes to pound them into his players' heads. They may sound corny to an outsider, but the University of Cincinnati football coach strongly believes what they represent.

When you're 4-8, as the Bearcats were last year, slogans like that ring hollow, but when you're 7-1 overall, lead the Big East Conference, and are ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press poll, they don't sound so corny.

Surely no one is scoffing after the Bearcats wiped out a 10-point second-half deficit Saturday and beat Pittsburgh, 26-23, at Heinz Field.

UC will play West Virginia on Saturday at noon at Paul Brown Stadium.

The Bearcats have come from behind in the second half to win their last three games, displaying a resiliency that makes Jones the favorite as Big East coach of the year and has fellow coaches admiring what he has done with a team picked to finish fifth in the league.

"They are one of the very best coached teams we'll play this year," said Pitt coach Todd Graham, "with great discipline and great character."

For UC, the win over Pitt was business as usual, with the Bearcats shrugging off another second-half deficit with the aid of two turnovers - a forced fumble and recovery by defensive end Walter Stewart and an interception by Cam Cheatham - to remain the only unbeaten team in the Big East at 3-0.

Jones calls it "championship character."

"It's that mental conditioning," Jones said. "You never look up at the scoreboard until the end. You just keep playing. Our team has a tremendous amount of confidence in each other and a belief that they are going to win."

That belief was most evident in a defense that shut down Pitt in the second half after the Panthers drove down the field in five plays on their first possession of the second half for a touchdown that gave them a 23-13 lead.

"After that first drive we tackled better and we swarmed to the football," Jones said. "The other key is that we were able to generate more of a pass rush on Tino (Sunseri). And the turnovers were huge."

UC appeared to put the game away when John Hughes sacked Sunseri and forced a fumble that was recovered by JK Schaffer with 1:13 remaining, but the replay official ruled that Sunseri's arm was moving forward, making it an incomplete pass instead of a fumble.

That meant more work for the UC defense.

The Panthers drove to the UC 33, where Kevin Harper attempted a 50-yard field goal with nine seconds left that would have tied the game. But his kick was no good and the Bearcats had their sixth straight win.

Running back Isaiah Pead ran for 118 yards on 22 carries - his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season - and passed Robert Cooper for fifth on UC's career rushing list.

Quarterback Zach Collaros passed for 214 yards but also was intercepted twice.

"I've got to quit doing stupid stuff," said Collaros, who had several hundred family members and friends on hand from his nearby hometown of Steubenville, Ohio.

On the plus side, Collaros ran for both of UC's touchdowns and kept the offense on the attack after the Bearcats fell behind by 10 points.

"There's always enough time to come back," Collaros said. "There was no panic there. There were two quarters to play and we were down 10. I don't think anybody had any doubt that we were going to win the game."

In effect, the Bearcats have a two-game lead over second-place Louisville because they've beaten the Cardinals (3-1 in the league) and therefore own the tie-breaker against them.

"We're in pretty good shape, but it's not over," Pead said. "We've got to stay level-headed and stay humble and do the things week in and week out that got us here."